The Center For Music and Arts Entrepuenership

Soundcloud: New Copyright Policy

 SoundCloud, one of the largest music sharing platforms, has recently begun to strictly monitor copyright breaches by their users. They have been receiving an overwhelming amount of copyright claims from lawyers representing major record labels and have been forced to take down many user uploaded tracks. With a majority of the users uploading DJ’ed tracks and electronic mixes, sampling is prevalent. Many loyal users of SoundCloud are  disappointed by the recent restrictions on what they can upload to the website. Driscoll, a Berlin DJ, stated that the “difficulties that SoundCloud are going under at the moment is mainly because, as always, there’s an older generation at that the major record labels who don’t understand how people consume music anymore.”

The internet has created an entirely new world of music sharing from artists to their fans. Heck, artists are giving away their music for virtually nothing now-a-days because they want to and openly choose to do so. For many independent artists, it’s an honor to see someone using their material and posting it out to the public. If that means possibly gaining a few more fans, then it’s a win-win situation. That free download or quick listen to a mix of your song on SoundCloud could lead to future interest in your product and what you have to offer. You just gained another fan to be a part of your story. With recent attempts to stop piracy and copyright infringment, like SOPA for example, independent artists are speaking out louder than ever. The internet has forever changed the music business.

To read more about the recent update to Soundcloud’s copyright policy, check out the link below:
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,14767254,00.html